Does anyone feel that Federer should have switched to 93" prostaff?

After looking at Federer play the first few matches with the 98" racquet, I feel its just not suited for his game. I have been skeptical about the big change in headsize and I have wondered why he did not slowly increase headsize with the same prostaff, rather than gambling with a completely new racquet. I feel he could have asked Wilson to do a custom 91 or 92 or 93 " prostaff keeping the same characteristics of the PS 90. With every inch increase in headsize, you sacrifice a little something in precision and power and I feel that 8 inches is just too big of a difference to adjust too.

Now that he got beat in the semis of a 250, by a qualifier may mean the end of the 98 experimentation (done with the honeymoon?)? I hope he reverts back to his trusty 90 or better yet, get back to 85 or even the K88 (which I had no business using except it was really big on serves). My two pence.

I don't think Wilson will go so far for him now, though we may think so. He is on the decline and why would a company go out of the way for him at this stage.

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Because he is the GOAT and still Wilson's highest-ranked player. Since Del Potro is using an old old paint job, federer is really the face of the company for the men's players. Unless people start buying racquets from Serena, Wilson needs Fed's marketing power, and thus will cater to him.

Now that he got beat in the semis of a 250, by a qualifier may mean the end of the 98 experimentation (done with the honeymoon?)? I hope he reverts back to his trusty 90 or better yet, get back to 85 or even the K88 (which I had no business using except it was really big on serves). My two pence.

You guys are too much. Wilson won't go far for Federer?
Wow I am so surprised how little these boards actually know.
If Fed asked Wilson to fly to Switzerland ASAP they would be on the first plane.
As for head size my personal opinion is he wants to switch and he is trying all his options. I think a simple 93 or 95 pro staff would be reasonable but why not try something really different and new.
I also believe he didn't expect to win these 2 events. It's more great ways to test the racket and get matches and hope to peak for the hard courts and open.

Athletes look at the really big picture not the little picture like how everyone here lives and dies by every match.

You guys are too much. Wilson won't go far for Federer?
Wow I am so surprised how little these boards actually know.
If Fed asked Wilson to fly to Switzerland ASAP they would be on the first plane.
As for head size my personal opinion is he wants to switch and he is trying all his options. I think a simple 93 or 95 pro staff would be reasonable but why not try something really different and new.
I also believe he didn't expect to win these 2 events. It's more great ways to test the racket and get matches and hope to peak for the hard courts and open.

Athletes look at the really big picture not the little picture like how everyone here lives and dies by every match.

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Agree fully with u, IMO 8 inches is way to much for a player of his style.

perhaps he tanked it just to get some rest and play and fiddle with the racquet off the court. it's possible after 3 matches he's got a feel of the frame and knows what needs to be changed. it is a prototype after all.

You guys are too much. Wilson won't go far for Federer?
Wow I am so surprised how little these boards actually know.
If Fed asked Wilson to fly to Switzerland ASAP they would be on the first plane.
As for head size my personal opinion is he wants to switch and he is trying all his options. I think a simple 93 or 95 pro staff would be reasonable but why not try something really different and new.
I also believe he didn't expect to win these 2 events. It's more great ways to test the racket and get matches and hope to peak for the hard courts and open.

Athletes look at the really big picture not the little picture like how everyone here lives and dies by every match.

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Really? So then why did Wilson simply send him a Blade 98 (which might be custom drilled, but we're unsure of just quite yet since it does look like it has a tighter center pattern than retail)? Why not give him some other design that's not been seen yet? Cuz they just give him whatever they have a maybe do a little bit of custom changes to it, but not a complete bottom to top one-off construction.

perhaps he tanked it just to get some rest and play and fiddle with the racquet off the court. it's possible after 3 matches he's got a feel of the frame and knows what needs to be changed. it is a prototype after all.

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By Pistol Pete's example above, then Wilson should have had the presses running all night and getting him 10 new sticks with the new specs before the match in the morning for the Finals.

Seriously, why tank a 500 point tournament when you're playing it because you want those points to get back up to a number other than 5... which you cannot personally stand because it's the lowest you've had in about a billion years on tour. He's close to sliding even further down if one of the other guys less than 1000 points under him have a good turnout in a couple of tournaments back to back. He was looking to get 500 pints in this one and 250 in the Credit Swiss one (along with the fact that he's their poster boy as well, so another plus) before going to Roger's Cup to pick up whatever points he could there to bounce back up before the US Open.

Really? So then why did Wilson simply send him a Blade 98 (which might be custom drilled, but we're unsure of just quite yet since it does look like it has a tighter center pattern than retail)? Why not give him some other design that's not been seen yet? Cuz they just give him whatever they have a maybe do a little bit of custom changes to it, but not a complete bottom to top one-off construction.

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I guess you didn't see the WSJ article with the interview with Wilson? They specifically stated that Federer's prototype is NOT a Blade and that's it's a custom racquet that Wilson just developed in its labs for Federer and is not currently in production nor sold in stores.

Really? So then why did Wilson simply send him a Blade 98 (which might be custom drilled, but we're unsure of just quite yet since it does look like it has a tighter center pattern than retail)? Why not give him some other design that's not been seen yet? Cuz they just give him whatever they have a maybe do a little bit of custom changes to it, but not a complete bottom to top one-off construction.

Seriously, why tank a 500 point tournament when you're playing it because you want those points to get back up to a number other than 5... which you cannot personally stand because it's the lowest you've had in about a billion years on tour. He's close to sliding even further down if one of the other guys less than 1000 points under him have a good turnout in a couple of tournaments back to back. He was looking to get 500 pints in this one and 250 in the Credit Swiss one (along with the fact that he's their poster boy as well, so another plus) before going to Roger's Cup to pick up whatever points he could there to bounce back up before the US Open.

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...he'll play a challenger just to get that winning feeling, not to do with a 500 or 250.

...don't discount ''the man'' from the USO, just yet and the WTF too. Losing at the 500s or 250s isn't loosely (or tightly) coupled with losing the biggies.

Yea, I'd rather he'd have switched to Dimi's stick than the 98, but maybe he tried it and didn't like it? IDK . Really hope he atleast tried it out this year though, but hey this is the GOAT we're talking about so I leave it to his good judgement. I'm sure Roger knows what's best for him.

I guess you didn't see the WSJ article with the interview with Wilson? They specifically stated that Federer's prototype is NOT a Blade and that's it's a custom racquet that Wilson just developed in its labs for Federer and is not currently in production nor sold in stores.

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Would you like cherry or grape Koolaid? :lol:

Seriously, it's pretty close to a Blade 98. The beam layout, etc. The only thing that's different from the looks is the string pattern and it's tightness in the center.

Generally speaking, if the frame was a Blade 98 custom drilled, Wilson would be well within truth to say the racquet was a custom frame build specifically for him and not available in stores... because it's not due to the different drilling pattern on it.

Besides, what sounds better? "We picked something off the shelf and changed a few small things and handed it to him." or "We custom build a racquet in our test lab specifically for him."

Generally speaking, when you're developing a prototype for someone like this and you have something in your normal list of products that already fits 80% of the needs, you start with that as your base. 98", throat and beam design like a Blade 98... go with that and change a few things on it specific to his needs.

Bottom line, is it exactly a retail Blade 98. No, of course not. But it's not a one-off custom job from the mold to the paint either.

I would imagine he is playing with what he feels would give the greatest gain and the least change of feel. I also believe this is just the surface of testing that has been going on for some time now. This is not a haphazard Brad said or TT forums said deal. He recognized long ago the correlation of changing from the 85 to the 90 and the slams that ensued...

No. A picture of Federer's Blade in another thread makes it clear that it has a boxy throat and hoop most unlinke the retail Blade, so it could be the Wilson version of the Prestige.

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I saw that pic and it does look like a Prestige frame, but so does a Blade. The Blade 98 has a flat beam design with slight curvatures of the sides... something that's hard to tell if the paint is flat vs shiny... not to mention grainy pics. It's either one or the other, but none of the current Head models have a throat large enough where you can put your finger in it and spin the racquet around like Fed used to do with his 90. His prototype does have this. That's the small detail that everyone keeps overlooking. Plus, the Head design has flat outsides to the hoop, making it easy to hit the ball off of it when you bounce it. The Blade 98 has flat insides but rounded outsides, making it harder to bounce a ball off of it than say his old 90. We all saw that he was having issues doing this one very simple move when he's walking up to the line. I think it's because the ball was rolling off the more curved edges.

Yea, I'd rather he'd have switched to Dimi's stick than the 98, but maybe he tried it and didn't like it? IDK . Really hope he atleast tried it out this year though, but hey this is the GOAT we're talking about so I leave it to his good judgement. I'm sure Roger knows what's best for him.

Seriously, it's pretty close to a Blade 98. The beam layout, etc. The only thing that's different from the looks is the string pattern and it's tightness in the center.

Generally speaking, if the frame was a Blade 98 custom drilled, Wilson would be well within truth to say the racquet was a custom frame build specifically for him and not available in stores... because it's not due to the different drilling pattern on it.

Besides, what sounds better? "We picked something off the shelf and changed a few small things and handed it to him." or "We custom build a racquet in our test lab specifically for him."

Generally speaking, when you're developing a prototype for someone like this and you have something in your normal list of products that already fits 80% of the needs, you start with that as your base. 98", throat and beam design like a Blade 98... go with that and change a few things on it specific to his needs.

Bottom line, is it exactly a retail Blade 98. No, of course not. But it's not a one-off custom job from the mold to the paint either.

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Aren't we nitpicking just a little. The fact that it looks like a blade doesn't make it a blade. You readily admit in your quote that it's not a retail blade, so that makes it custom - no? Doesn't this fall in line with Wilson saying that they made custom frames in it's labs just for him? It's like saying a tecnifibre, and a Dunlop were the same frames - when they used the same 300 tour mold.

Aren't we nitpicking just a little. The fact that it looks like a blade doesn't make it a blade. You readily admit in your quote that it's not a retail blade, so that makes it custom - no? Doesn't this fall in line with Wilson saying that they made custom frames in it's labs just for him? It's like saying a tecnifibre, and a Dunlop were the same frames - when they used the same 300 tour mold.

I don't think Wilson will go so far for him now, though we may think so. He is on the decline and why would a company go out of the way for him at this stage.

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Way off the mark. Wilson would make him a new frame for every day of the year if he wanted it. He is Wilson's biggest hand in their marketing bet and making lots of frame iterations would be barely a blip on their operations budget. If it helped Federer win even one more major or achieve something they could crow about in their marketing they would do it happily.

Their options for pro endorsement after Federer are barely even worth mentioning. They'll be hammering the Federer cause for a while to come yet regardless of his future results.

So, FED is the best tennis player that ever lived, He knows what he wants and needs, I can tell you He knows a lot more than you will ever about tennis. Quit putting irrelevant threads out!

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I would put money down that he doesn't know everything about his stick. I could be completely wrong on this, but for some reason (based on some videos I've seen when he talks about his sticks), it just seems like he plays with them and they feel good, but he doesn't exactly go to P1 or Wilson and say specifically what they must technically change on it. It's like Tom Cruise in Days of Thunder when he didn't know what to tell the mechanics what to do to the car to make it work for him... lol

I dunno, if I had the chance to quiz him on stuff, I'd quiz him on his equipment and see what answers he had. If he was vague, he's either covering up the fact that his sponsors isn't giving him the same stuff he's trying to sell us or he just doesn't know all the technical facts.

Maybe the guys at P1 can at least answer this question. Does Fed walk in and state specifically/technically what he wants or does he just ask for generalized things in layman's terms and you figure out what he wants and do it up for him?